Responsible Travel: how to be a good guest on safari

Choose operators who explain their rules. Ask how many vehicles share a sighting, how close they go and whether they will leave when animals are stressed. A river crossing is where crowding does the most harm.

Stay in the vehicle where rules require it, keep voices low, and do not stand, shout or throw food.

Spend where it counts. Community conservancies, local guides and cooperatives return more money to people who live with wildlife than a large operator does. The Amboseli rangers profiled in this issue were hit hard when tourism stopped.

Do not ask for guarantees. A good guide will tell you honestly when a sighting is unlikely.

Respect closures. In India, Kaziranga and Madhya Pradesh's tiger reserves close their core zones in the monsoon; that is part of how the animals are protected.

These are Wayfarer's own editorial guidelines, drawn from the reporting in this issue; specific park rules should be checked on official sites.